Patonga

Patonga is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the north bank of the Hawkesbury River, southwest of Woy Woy. It is part of the City of Gosford local government area.GeographyPatonga is a small and semi-isolated riverside community occupying a one kilometre long sandy spit projecting from the rocky and elevated headland of the Brisbane Water National Park to the north. The spit, at the mouth of the estuarine Patonga Creek which feeds into the Hawkesbury River at Broken Bay, forms a beach frontage onto Brisk Bay to the east and a sandy foreshore on the creek to the west.Patonga can be accessed by road along Patonga Drive from Umina to the north, by ferry from Palm Beach and Brooklyn, or by private watercraft. The community extends to housing, accessible only by watercraft, which occupies Patonga Creek's foreshore on the opposite bank. Various bush tracks provide hiking access to Patonga and the surrounding reserves.Patonga Creek was once navigable by fairly large vessels, but now averages about half a metre in depth. Gosford City Council have acknowledged the siltation problem. Lion Island is located in Broken Bay to the suburb's southeast.